Ah, July! Temperatures are soaring to record highs – around 50 degrees centigrade – the fog on my glasses as I step out of the air-conditioned comfort of my car, home and office and the humidity that causes my clothes to stick like a second skin are slowly becoming major irritants.

On the other hand, however, schools are out, many families are off on vacation to cooler climes, traffic has thinned out making driving an absolute pleasure and nobody’s asking, "Do you have a reservation, madam?" when I go out to an impromptu lunch or dinner.

There’s always more than one side to every situation and unfortunately I’ve found out that most of us – call it the human condition – think seriously of one side, like it very much and then begin the moan and groan much to our detriment.

The human race has played games since time immemorial. This week’s issue of Time magazine has looked deeply at sports and other games that bring people "togetherness" and help young ones in various countries transform their lives.

A fine read for those among us who make football and chess a passion.

Another superb read for me however, was a tiny little paper back that I had read with interest at age 25 and picked up again at the threshold of age 50 to re-read and get a clearer, different perspective.

On Monday June 16, the UK Foreign Office issued a travel advisory raising the terror threat level in the UAE to "high".

On Tuesday June 17, the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi put out a warden message warning all Americans about the threat of terrorist attacks as the summer approaches.

Neither the UK Foreign Office nor the US Embassy mentioned a specific threat, but warned of the "general security situation in the Middle East".

For a long time now naysayers from around the world – but mostly from the West – have said that young people don’t read anymore and the written word is dying because of TV, the internet and the cryptic SMS (short message service) culture.

Everywhere I looked I saw signs of the opposite and I’ve often wondered if someone from the TV and internet industry actually started the rumour of the demise of books and newspapers to fuel their own businesses.

Well, I’m not worrying about that anymore because I’ve found out that the love of books by young people never really went away.

In the United States of America the oldest ever presidential nominee and the first black presidential nominee will be going head to head to become the 44th president of that country.

The path to the White House of both Senators, John McCain and Barack Obama, is paved with rocks.

The two are very different and that is very obvious. The only similarity they might have is that both favour the privatisation of healthcare and then it stops.

Almost eight years have gone by since Albert Arnold Gore Jr, the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2000 election lost the presidency in a controversial recount of votes in the state of Florida.

Now, eight years later, the man who would be president is a popular figure worldwide, while the incumbent president George W. Bush is struggling with a legacy as the man who lost the hearts and minds not only of his own people but the world at large.

In the eight years since he conceded the election, Al Gore has risen to prominence as an environmental activist, getting regular people to rally around the man-made climate change crisis and raising awareness among businesses and governments to help solve it.

Last week I was bombarded with literature related to beauty. Hair, skin, nails, spas, non-invasive therapies, wrinkle irons, whitening systems… it certainly boggled my mind.

For someone who has been instilled with the idea that one man’s beauty is the other man’s bimbette and that one does not need much more than soap and water, a touch of lipstick and a dab of perfume to feel beautiful, I wondered who’s buying?

Well, according to the organisers of Beautyworld, the international trade fair held last week in Dubai, Dh28.25 billion was spent in 2007 in the Middle East alone.

Traditionally, marriage and children have gone hand in hand and couples who consciously decided to hold back on bringing kids into this world were looked upon scornfully as selfish.

The traditional outlook on marriage, children and extended families, still rings true in many parts of the world. However, the advice to go forth and multiply has slowly changed to go forth and pursue happiness in many other parts.

Many young couples now tie the knot in the hope of permanent wedded bliss and decide not to ruin it with brats who would suck them dry of their money, time and peace of mind and then flee the nest without so much as a ‘Thank you, mum and dad’. Well, a Harvard professor has now revealed that "marriage without kids is the key to bliss".

Last week, while visiting the eastern part of the US on a company-sponsored study tour, I bought a self-help book called How To Deal With Annoying People. The perfect tome, I thought, to read on the 14-hour flight back to Dubai.

Simultaneously though, as if by coincidence, a certain Ms Jones sent me an e-mail accusing me of being a self-satisfied, self-obsessed woman who blindly believed that I was right all the time.

I don’t know Jones and I don’t believe she knows me except perhaps through this 360-word personal blog that I write every week. My blogging persona has obviously, seriously annoyed her.

It’s a strange thought, but if ghosts could be put to a useful purpose I bet every stretch of the highways would greet oncoming drivers with the groans and screams of all those who have perished in accidents caused by speeding and reckless driving.

A car that’s going too fast could be as treacherous and recalcitrant as a wild animal might be. The risk of mixing petrol with bad judgment is appalling. It’s a pity most people in the UAE don’t realise this.

They pat the bonnets of their SUVs and say admiringly: "It makes 150km an hour feel like nothing." What these heavy-footed incurables don’t know is that 150 kilometres an hour is almost 140 feet a second – a speed which puts a viciously unjustified responsibility on brakes and human reflexes.